The largest lake in Lower Franconia is filling with water again. The drain for Lake Ellertshäuser in the Schweinfurt district has been closed since the second week of December and the water level is rising again, as Andreas Kirchner from the Bad Kissingen Water Management Office said.
This means that nothing stands in the way of the 2024 bathing season. By next summer, the water level should only be one to one and a half meters below normal, said Kirchner. However, it will still be many months before the lake is completely full again. Because the lake relies solely on rainfall to fill up. Sailing boat owners may have to get creative if they want to use their boat on the lake next summer. The water at the jetties is probably not yet deep enough for many boats, said Kirchner.
The renovation of the main lake, which began at the end of November 2021, is largely completed. The renovation of the Vorsee is still pending. The reason for the work was an outlet pipe in need of renovation. The lake near Stadtlauringen, which is up to 16 meters deep, should actually be available to bathers and sailors again this summer. Further construction work for the renovation and mowing work on the banks in the bathing areas caused a delay.
The lake will probably no longer need to be completely drained for future work. A newly built dam in the main lake will enable the water level to be lowered in the future so that the operating facilities can be “drained” without having to completely empty the lake, as the water management office says.
The lake was created as a reservoir in the 1950s, but is now also used for flood protection and as a local recreation area. Normally it is the size of about 42 football fields and, according to the office, holds 1.7 million cubic meters of water. The lake was last emptied in 1983.